After six years as a technical communicator, I still struggle with understanding the core competencies for the profession. I “fell” into the job — I have a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religion and yet I am a technical writer…Should I take classes? Read books? Learn on the job?
In six years, I had not taken one technical writing class at SFU, Douglas College, or BCIT, so I thought I’d finally legitimate myself by taking the new Document Management Standards class at SFU with Duncan Kent. It was a nice class that helped me confirm that I already knew a lot of this stuff; I just didn’t know that I knew it.
During the class, Duncan made a comment that he runs across a lot of technical writers who feel that they are impostors. When he made that comment, I realized that I felt this way too — that technical communication standards swirl around “out there” and I’m not really sure what they are and I could be full of hot air.
That’s when I realized I was doing myself a disservice — after nearly six years of on-the-job learning, reading books and (now) taking classes, I do know a lot and need to buck up and take credit for all my hard work.
I hope you enjoy the articles. Perhaps they will confirm what you know, show you that you knew all along but didn’t realize it, or give you a good basis for further learning.
